Sci-Fi TV Saturday: Fringe, Lost, Chuck, True Blood, Caprica + more

In Sci-Fi TV this week we have some details on the upcoming final season of Lost", as well as the third season of NBC’s Chuck. Plus schedule changes for FOX’s Fringe and newcomer Human Target, and ABC’s Better Off Ted. All that and more, including Golden Globe nominations, the latest television ratings, casting bites, images and videos, including new Caprica previews.

GENRE TV NEWS

Lost Series Finale Will Be Three Hours Long
"Lost"
executive producer Carlton Cuse confirmed that the series finale — to be directed by Jack Bender — will run three hours long and run over the course of two weeks [The Chicago Tribune]:

Will 18 hours be enough for the last season? (By the way, Season 6 will consist of a two-hour season premiere, 13 episodes and three-hour series finale that will air over two weeks — but as Cuse joked, "I’m sure the network will sell it as a six-part finale if they can.") Cuse: "For us, [18 hours] is just about right. I mean, we aren’t sitting here feeling like, ‘Oh my God, we need a ton more hours to tell the rest of our story.’ It feels like it’s going to work out just fine. It will have been the right length."

Here are a few more excerpts from Maureen Ryan’s interview with Calrton Cuse and Damon Lindelof:

As expected, Cuse and Lindelof will write the show’s 2-hour series finale. Cuse on the final season and the unveiling of the ending: "We kind of concocted the mythology of the show a long time ago, and it’s like having a Christmas present and you kept it on the shelf a long time and people are finally going to get to open it and see it. So we’re finally getting to deploy the ending of the show and that is exciting to us. It is a story and I think as storytellers, that’s always what’s delicious — you set up the audience and then you basically finish the story. There’s a payoff and we’re actually going to finally give the audience our payoff."

Cuse said the duo is going "off the grid" after the finale airs in order to avoid "having to interpret the ending." More from Cuse on this topic: "We’ve always felt that one of the compelling elements of ‘Lost’ is its intentional ambiguity. The fact is, it’s open for interpretation and discussion and we feel like we would be doing a disservice to the fans and the viewers to say, ‘No, you must only look at this in one way.’ We don’t think that is really good for the show or for people’s ability to read into the show what they want…. We really feel we are very committed to this notion of not sort of stripping the show of its essential mystery. I mean, mystery exists in life and we kind of always go back to the midi-chlorians example [in the ‘Star Wars’ prequels]. Your understanding the Force was not aided by knowing that there were little particles swimming around in the bloodstreams of Jedi. There are sort of fundamental elements of mystery and magic to the show that are unexplainable, and any attempt to explain them would actually harm the show, and in our opinion, the legacy of the show. So we’re trying to find that kind of right blend of answering questions, but also leaving the things that should be mysterious, mysterious."

Head on over to The Chicago Tribune to read the rest of the interview and head on over to TV Guide for another interview with the duo.  "Lost" season six premieres on ABC on Tuesday, February 2nd at 9 p.m.with the two-part episode "LA X".

More character promo images [more at LylyFord Blog & LylyFord Blog]

ARG poster & official season six logo poster [Dark UFO & The ODI]

New promo [more at The ODI]

Lost University: Tutoring Session #3 [Dark UFO]

Fringe To Get Post-House Boost; Human Target Schedule Change + ABC To Burn Off Remaining Better Off Ted Episodes
Before "Fringe" goes on its planned seven-week hiatus in February, Fox will try to boost it’s ratings — which have been done this year partly due to its tough new Thursday time slot — with a special airing leading out of "House".  The episode will air on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 9 p.m. [The Futon Critic]:

Said pair will face off against the time period premieres of "Chuck" and "Heroes" on NBC as well as fresh installments of CBS’s comedies and week two of "The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love" on ABC.

"Fringe" will then go back to its regular Thursday time slot the immediate Thursday, January 14th at 9 p.m.  As noted previously, "Fringe" will air its "winter finale" on February 4th and go on a seven-week break to make room for midseason replacement "Past Life".  It’ll return with new episodes on April 1st and run uninterrupted until the finale sometime in May.  In other programming news, but staying with Fox, the network has also announced a change in schedule for the upcoming midseason series "Human Target", although it’s not a very encouraging announcement.  The comic-to-TV adaptation will still premiere on Sunday, January 17th at 8 p.m., and get a post-Idol boost on Wednesday, January 20th at 9 p.m., but instead of staying put after "American Idol", it’ll move to 8 p.m. pre-‘Idol’ the following — January 27th — and subsequent weeks.  The news is worse for the ABC comedy Better Off Ted.  The Futon Critic is reporting that ABC will burn off the remaining season two episodes in January.  The show will air two times a week — at 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. — beginning on January 5th.  Followed below are a few "Fringe" bites and some new wallpapers.

  • DC Comics and Wildstorm have released a softcover book containing all the "Fringe" comics released thus far.  The book will be released on December 22nd. [via FringeTelevision]
  • The Fox website has unveiled a new game called "Fringe Hidden Elements".  The purpose of the game objects hidden within art in less than 60 seconds.  Discovering the hidden objects unlocks exclusive never-before-seen wallpapers (some of which I’ve included below). [Fringe Hidden Elements Game]

Wallpapers [more at FringeFiles]

Chuck Season Three Details + New Social Media Game Announced
Last week "Chuck" co-creators/executive producers Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak and star Zachari Levi participated in a conference call with journalists about the upcoming third season of the NBC sci-fi drama.  Here are some excerpts from the conference call:

SCI FI Wire — "He’s [Chuck] still the kind of somewhat bumbling hero, and I think that’s what brings so much of the heart and premise of the show and keeps that there. Though Chuck now has these abilities, they’re fleeting, they’re in and out, they’re glitchy," said Levi. "This new door that we walk through now just lends itself to both more action and more comedy, which I think is good all the way around, and it doesn’t change the heart of the show, which I think some fans I know were maybe concerned, like, ‘Oh, gosh, now he’s Jason Bourne. It’s not going to be the same show anymore.’ I can guarantee you I am no Jason Bourne."

"The season was being built to have this incredible end-of-season run as you get up to 13," said Schwartz. "And as I said to Chris, well, 13, what a great season finale that he wrote. And of course it’s merely just another episode now with the back six. … So then it was incumbent upon the writers to top that. So for the fans they’re going to get a whole extra dose of insanity, which I think is going to be really exciting and raises everybody’s game."

Luckily, the season began early enough that they were able to deal with how to incorporate the new episodes, said Fedak. The back six ended up turning into a new arc. "We had time to kind of figure out what those six huge episodes would be. And it’s also a glimpse into what season four is going to be."

ChuckTV.net — Regarding the integration of Subway, now a major sponsor of Chuck, Josh jokes, “The name of the show is now Jared.” Fedak brings us back into reality by revealing that we won’t see much more than we did last year, and not really until later in the season [sic] because production had already begun before the deal with finalized. No one will be working at Subway, clarifies Josh, although they weren’t opposed to the idea.

Cinema BlendAnd is it safe to say that Brandon Routh and Kristin Kreuk’s characters are going to be some major obstacles for Chuck and Sarah?

Josh Schwartz: They’re obstacles – Josh again – they’re obstacles for Chuck and Sarah but I think – we didn’t want to just bring in characters to merely be obstacles. I think you’ll find that the way that they interact in the spy story lines and certainly the case with Brandon’s character is going to reveal complications and secrets throughout the season.

Check out full reports of the conference call at ChuckTV.net, CinemaBlend and SCI FI Wire.  In other news, NBC has announced a new social media game called "Mission: Chuck Me Out".  According to the official website, fans are rewarded with points for "completing daily missions & sharing the greatness of Chuck on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace".  The player with the most points by March 8, 2010 will be rewarded with a grand prize of getting their picture on the show via one of Chuck’s flashes.  There will also be weekly winners:

"The fans of Chuck have been incredibly passionate and supportive of the show. We want to reward this loyalty and activate further social conversation about the incredible new season. This innovative promotion is an excellent way to accomplish both objectives," said Adam Stotsky, president of NBC Entertainment Marketing.

Here are a few "bites" to round out this week’s "Chuck" coverage. "Chuck" premieres its third season on NBC on Sunday, January 10th before settling into its normal time slot the following day.

  • Syfy will run an eight-hour marathon of season two episodes from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Thursday, January 7, 2010. [Syfy]
  • Ellie and Awesome have found an apartment and moved out of the house, leaving Morgan to move in with Chuck. [E! Online]
  • Schwatz says he hasn’t ruled out a return by either Bryce or Jill: "Yeah, the door is always open on this show". [TV Guide]

True Blood Up For Two Golden Globes; Lost Up For One
HBO’s "True Blood" has been nominated for two Golden Globes, one for Best Television Series – Drama and another for Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama for Anna Paquin’s portrayal of the character Sookie Stackhouse.  The show was nominated in both categories last year, coming away with one win (Paquin).  The only other sci-fi/genre show recognized this year by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was "Lost".  The ABC drama received a nomination in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, where actor Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus) was nominated.  It’s Emerson’s first nomination by the HFPA, although he has been nominated three times by the Academy (2007, 2008 and 2009), winning the Oscar for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2009.  "The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards" will be broadcasted Live at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on NBC.

Season three premiere – "Chuck vs. the Pink Slip" [more at ChuckTV.net]

Episode two – "Chuck vs. the Three Words" [more at ChuckTV.net]

Episode three – "Chuck vs. the Angel de la Muerte" [more at ChuckTV.net]

Set images featuring guest star Brandon Routh [more at Socialite Life]

Promo #12: "Upgraded" [YouTube]

Watch two more promos here and here

Sneak peek [EW’s The Ausiello Files]

CASTING BITES

  • Joe Manganiello has been cast in a recurring role as the werewolf Alcide in HBO’s "True Blood".  Also cast in the show were Cooper Huckabee who will play Sam’s (Sam Trammell) dad Joe Lee Mickens and J. Smith-Cameron as Sam’s estranged mother Melinda Mickens.  Meanwhile, Alfre Woodard will guest star as Lafayette’s (Nelsan Ellis) mom. [THR & THR — Casting Call for Alcide at SpoilerTV]
  • …Also joining the cast is Actress-model Natasha Alam.  Alam will be playing a potentially recurring role of Yvetta, Eric’s new dancer at Fangtasia… [EW]
  • …And rounding the casting news for "True Blood", is news that James Frain ("The Tudors") has been cast in the recurring role of Franklin Mott, Tara’s girlfriend.  The character is described as "a tall, dark, and handsome vampire who seems to have an immediate and torrid connection to Tara." [EW]
  • Chad Lindberg, who had a recurring role as Ash on "Supernatural", is returning to the The CW series later this season: "No idea what they have in store for our Sexy Ash yet…but it’s good to be back!!!!!"… [@ChadLindberg via SF Universe]
  • …And a casting call for episode 16 – "Dark Side Of The Moon" is looking for an actor to play Joshua, "benevolent — dignified, very Zen man in his 50’s-70’s is inflappable, simple, but not insincere. A Morgan Freemen type vibe." [SpoilerTV]
  • Here are two additional casting calls for episodes 15 and 16 of ABC’s "FlashForward". [SpoilerTV & SpoilerTV]
  • NBC has released a brief synopsis for the two-part "Heroes" episodes: "Upon This Rock" / "Let It Bleed" (January 4, 2010): "As Claire becomes immersed in the world of the carnival, she becomes increasingly suspicious of Samuel’s motives; Hiro goes on a mission to rescue one of his own; H.R.G. recruits Matt to help him take down Samuel." [SpoilerTV]


NEW VIDEOS

Caprica

Scene: "What If They Could Come Back?" [Syfy]

"The Graystones" – Vignette [Syfy]

More vignette’s here, here, here and here

Video Blog: "Shooting Star" [Syfy]

Watch another video blog here

Doctor Who

New clip from "The End Of Time" [YouTube]

Catherine Tate fails on Doctor Who-themed edition of "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" [via io9]

Merry Christmas from Doctor Who [YouTube]

Watch one more promo here

"The End Of Time" behind the scenes [Blogtor Who]

Family Guy

New clip from the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ spoof "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" [io9]

Smallville

Promo: "Friday’s Are Legendary" [YouTube]

Supernatural

Trailer: "Screwed" [YouTube]

TV BITES

  • Previously on TrekMovie: See the extended "Caprica" pilot online.
  • We’ll see Sam using his powers again before the end of "Supernatural" season five, and we’ll also be meeting another horseman of the apocalypse (Famine). [E! Online]
  • Here’s Felicia Day on reprising her role as Mag in the "Dollhouse" series finale " Epitaph 2 – The Return": "They wrap up the storyline in an amazing way and I’m blown away by the writing." [TV Guide Magazine]
  • Brit Irvin, who will play Stargirl in the upcoming "Smallville" TV movie "Absolute Justice" revealed some of the circumstances that will be getting the JSA (Hawkman and Dr. Fate will also be featured) together: "I can’t say too much about this, but there is a death that occurs at the beginning of the episode,” Britt Irvin tells me. “And that brings [the JSA] together with Clark and his team." [Fancast]
  • Steven Moffat, the new "Doctor Who" showrunner, revealed that the next series of "Doctor Who" will see the return of the Weeping Angels, last season in 2007’s "Blink"… [via Blogtor Who]
  • ..Meanwhile, Alexandra Moen, who reprises her role as Lucy Saxon in the upcoming special "The End Of Time", talks about her role in an interview with Digital Spy.

"The End Of Time" [more at FilmShaft and Blogtor Who]

  • There doesn’t appear to be any truth to the rumors that Lifetime is considering picking up ABC’s low-rated sci-fi drama "Eastwick". [E! Online]
  • "Legend of the Seeker" showrunner Ken Biller talked about what’s to come on the syndicated series when it returns with new episodes in January: "We’re exploring themes of life and death in this world—what is the afterlife?—and we’re exploring religious themes, and faith in oneself versus faith in a divine entity, and whether one is the master of one’s own fate or if one’s fate can be defined by an existing prophecy". [E! Online & E! Online]
  • Episode 13 of "FlashForward" will be called "Better Angels". [SpoilerTV]
  • TNT has picked up the off-network rights to The CW series "Supernatural".   The network will begin airing episodes of the series beginning with the pilot on January 4, 2010.  A marathon will follow in February. [The Futon Critic]
  • "Heroes" creator Tim Kring says that [SPOILERS–highlight to viewAdrian Pasdar’s character Nathan Petrelli is really dead, and won’t be showing up again this season: "That is correct. And we are shooting the last episode right now, so I can say that with complete clarity." [Fancast]

SCI-FI TV RATINGS (Based on final national numbers unless otherwise noted) [@TravisYanan]

Only three sci-fi/genre shows had original programing this past week: "Better Off Ted", "Eastwick" and "Dollhouse" (I’ll get to all three in a moment). But, The CW did do something that was somewhat interesting. The network aired an entire week of repeats of their hit series "The Vampire Diaries". Here were the ratings for all 10 episodes, averaged out by day (i.e. 8-10:00 p.m. on Monday, 8-10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, etc.):

  • 12/14 — 12/1.50 Million / 0.6 A18-49 Rating
  • 12/15 — 1.22 Million / 0.6 A18-49 Rating
  • 12/16 — 1.34 Million / 0.6 A18-49 Rating
  • 12/17 — 1.90 Million / 0.8 A18-49 Rating
  • 12/18 — 1.46 Million / 0.6 A18-49 Rating [fast affiliates]
  • Average: 1.48M / 0.6 A18-49 Rating

10 episodes over the course of 5 days?  Not such a bad idea huh? Getting back to the original programming, after a poor start to its new season last week, the ABC comedy "Better Off Ted" fell even further.  The Tuesday episode drew 3.18 million viewers and a 1.3 A18-49 rating, which was down 17 and 13 percent, respectively, from its season premiere.  Then on Wednesday, the already-canceled drama "Eastwick" returned from a one-week hiatus and hit another series low, drawing just 3.66 million viewers (-14%) and a 1.3 A18-49 rating (n/c).  And lastly on the original programming front, the double-dose of "Dollhouse" episodes last night drew a combined 2.10 million viewers and a 0.7 A18-49 rating from 8:00-10:00 p.m. (based on fast affiliate numbers–finals will be known next week).  The block was down 13% among viewers and 22% in A18-49 rating from the week prior (2.42 million viewers / 0.9 A18-49 Rating).  Rounding out the sci-fi/genre programming on the broadcast front, a "Fringe" repeat on Thursday night drew a weak 3.12 million viewers and a 1.0 A18-49 rating, while a repeat of the recent Disney special "Prep & Landing" drew a solid 6.54 million viewers and a 1.9 A18-49 rating.

Select Sci-Fi/Fantasy shows on cable and syndication [Ratings for 12/11, which featured an original episode of Sanctuary on Syfy, were not available this week.  Numbers for the 12/18 episode should be available next week]

After a couple weeks of sliding ratings, "Ghost Hunters" rebounded this week.  The episode drew a solid 2.54 million viewers (+12%) and a 1.1 A18-49 rating (+10%).   Lead-out "Ghost Hunters Academy" also rebounded from what was a series low last week with its season finale drawing 1.82 million viewers (+21%) and a 0.8 A18-49 rating (+14%).

In syndication, the fifth episode of season two’s "Legend of the Seeker" drew 2.30 million viewers (-5%), bringing the season two average down slightly to 2.41 million viewers.  Season breakdown — 2×01: 2.58M, 2×02: 2.24M, 2×03: 2.50M, 2×04: 2.41M, 2×05: 2.30M). [TV by the Numbers]

CHART (12/7/2009 to 12/13/2009)


Follow Russ on his blog: Your Entertainment Now and on Twitter: Twitter.com/YourEntNow.

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I still hate fox for never giving Dollhouse the attention and promotion it deserved. I doubt i’ll ever watch another show on fox after Dollhouse is done in January.

Looking forward to seeing what Matt Smith does with his version of the Doctor. I’ve enjoyed Tennant’s tenure as the lead but even with a new face the Doctor is still the Doctor.

I just picked up “The Plan” and “Caprica” on DVD tonight, watching The Plan now. BSG was one of the best series on TV that I have ever seen and I’m very anxiously awaiting the arrival of Caprica. Great job Ron Moore and company, keep up the good work with Caprica!

Is there any chance we will ever get to see Brandon Routh return as superman, there were problems with Superman Returns but in my opinion he was not one of them. Sure he is no Christopher Reeve but nobody can ever take his place at least for my generation who love the 1978 movie.

Probably as little chance seeing Brandon again as Enterprise being revived from the grave and having Scott Bakula reprise the role of Jonathan Archer.

The studio is apparently doing a Dark Superman and will probably change the costume, i do remember the abomination that was the reboot costume lightning or something,lol.

I enjoyed Caprica more than I expected to. Lord, does this mean I’m hooked on another sci-fi sudser? If so, I’ll miss the space ship ‘splosions.

I’m glad Lost is ending, and I mean that in a good way. It’s had low points, but mostly it’s been intriguing. I’m just ready to stop gaining new 3-episode characters who show up in order to die… and get on to the meat of the storyline.

I’m hoping Heroes packs it in. I keep watching, but it’s a war of attrition.

David Tenant (and the new production team) have utterly revitalized Dr. Who. The new kid’s got a lot to uphold.

BTW, thanks for this great article, but not all the videos show up. Got a lot of red x’s that won’t open.

As a fan of Lost, I’m glad they are ending it while the quality is still high. The X Files should have been shut down after season 6, but they went on with it too long. The show detioriated after the move to L.A with season 9 being absolute crap. And don’t get me started on the finale. As for Heroes, the show was great in its first season, but went downhill fast. The producers said season 3 would get back to what made season1 great, but didn’t get the job done as the storyline became convoluted with too many plots and characters.

Here’s an interesting titbit, rumour has it that Mr Tennant isn’t quite finished with appearances on WHO, so how will he appear in occasional future episodes… that’s a masterful question isn’t it!?!?

#1 – It got plenty of promotion and attention. People weren’t interested. It’s annoying enough that it was renewed in favor of “The Sarah Conner Chronicles”.

8. It was kind of in-between really. It’s unfair to say Fox didn’t actually try and give Dollhouse some support. They made an attempt to draw people to it by attaching it to the similar TSCC. They talked about it online. They tried to reach out through social networking sites and viral marketing. They attempted to draw viewers in the first season with the “remote-free TV” experiment. So on and so on.

It didn’t work though because the first five episodes (and a few thereafter) were dull and uninteresting. Seriously. And as it turns out, a lot of that was Whedon’s fault – not Fox’s. It was his idea, for example, to do the kinky sex and his idea to redo the pilot (although in that case, it was a good idea having seen both “Echo” and “Ghosts” – the latter might be dull, but the first was a mess). And, as he’s said in recent interviews, Fox didn’t really mind the whole arc thing – after all, it’s worked for Fox’s competitor ABC (i.e., Lost and V).

On the other hand, they never marketed it as heavily as some of their other shows and the truth is that TSCC was canceled not because of Dollhouse… but rather because it was also dying from low ratings and was more expensive to shoot.

Is Dr Who big in the US?

Sad to see “Better Off Ted” isn’t doing better. It’s a great, funny show.

10. locutus_of_borg

No, the lunatic wing of its fans like to pretend it is: it’s only on minor networks.

Disappointed at the return of the Weeping Angels. As one-off bad guys, they were perhaps the most chilling enemies in the history of old-or nu-Who. Bringing them back runs the risk of diluting their impact.

The problem I find with US shows is that I always feel the need to wait at least two seasons before watching them in case the network dumps them. Dollhouse held no interest for me whatsoever, even though I liked Buffy/Angel and Firefly/Serenity. I honestly thought Terminator: TSCC would survive, so I bought season one. I’ll still get season two. Very disappointed that season three never happened. I hate getting rabidly attached to a show, then being left on a cliffhanger (cough!Twin Peaks! cough!!)

Then again, the Terminator rights must be all over the place now the Halcyon Company’s gone down the toilet!

Tennant was great on Graham Norton, though that Mars ep was kind of derivative. The point though was the Doctor’s “arc,” which made a standout ep.
I can see the creative juices running dry for Davies though.
Bring on the new team- but HOW LONG will we have to wait (in the States)?

I hope Dr Who continues for years to come!
I think Time Lords only have 12 regenerations, so maybe only two more after Matt Smith.
Although I would like an ending, maybe the 13th Doctor could be just another one off film and he dies for good in the end?

#10 The good Doc has what is called a “cult” following in the US. I imagine that most of it came from kids like me that went home in the afternoons from elementary school and found this wierd but interesting tv show on PBS. It was dark and the sets and monsters were corny but that curly headed dude with the long scarf and quirky attitude was appealing to my young sci fi mind. There were several fans then in my obscure little school in my small southern town. I stuck with it until my favorite Doctor showed up (Peter Davison) and then I was hooked for life. Between my old episodes of every other Doctor and the new incarnation, my kids are fans now as well. So while it’s not mainstream it is big. At least in my house.

#1–so you won’t watch “Fringe”? way to show support for part of the new Trek Supreme Court! And for Nimoy! :(

Fringe is boring. They cast a block of wood as the lead actress.

I agree wholeheartedly, Brandon Routh was excellent and captured the dual role of Kal-el/Clark Kent perfectly which was no easy feat and should be recognized for his achievements! Superman & Wonder Woman are iconic roles and cannot be played by just anyone, Christopher Reeve & Lynda Carter were those characters just like William Shatner & crew were iconic, but the new Trek casting was unbelievably perfect, and IMHO Brandon captured the role perfectly as well as the look. Brandon was the best thing about Superman Returns, and should not be punished for the movie’s so-called failure! If Superman is resurrected, Brandon should play the role… he is Superman! I never liked the idea of various actors playing the same role as it didn’t contribute to believability, except in the case of Dr. Who who regenerates due to his nature or the Trill on Star Trek, but as for all the different faces of Batman, James Bond, etc., I would prefer consistency if at all possible! I have accepted the new actors of Trek 2009 and hope they continue to flesh out the roles and are not recast ever, and I hope that Brandon is there in the new Superman flick as opposed to a new face! Even the Eric Bana/Ed Norton Hulk thing is a bit much… should the actor automatically be replaced if a movie is not a huge success? I think unnecessary recasting only further hinders a movie’s chances! There are many reasons for a movie not to succeed, why is it assumed that it’s automatically the actor’s fault? I think the reason we have yet to see a Wonder Woman feature film yet is because believable casting is so difficult for such an iconic role as this, another reason they should reconsider Brandon as Superman because as far as I am concerned they hit acting GOLD!!!!!

I was a huge fan of BSG.. and was excited when they announced the spin off. I rented it the day it came out on DVD…. WOW… was I ever disappointed. It was so dull. It had an interesting premise.. but it really dragged. I kept telling myself that it will pick up. I wasn’t expecting action like BSG.. but it was just very boring. I don’t think the series will last very long. But that’s just my opinion.

Oh man, the Lost folks are walking a fine line. I don’t know how I feel about this so-called desirable “ambiguity.” After 5 seasons of mysteries, they’ve built up a huge need for some concrete answers and payoff in their viewers. They will have to strike the perfect balance between stuff people like to wonder about and stuff people have wondered about for long enough and simply want to know the answer to. I have a feeling large groups of people will be unsatisfied no matter what they do.

I was not impressed with brandon routh as supes—reeve created clark kent as a more dimensional clark kent–the only clark who was not just as handsome n heroic as supes was–reeves clark was nerdy and stumbling n unsure of himself–routh is handsome physically n i have liked him in other roles but just did not think he was great as superman n especially clark kent imho–but then again i thought the new lois lane was even worse,ditto luthor n all of the other characters too in supes returns–the smallville cast all are better in my opinion..

17. redshirt

It seems Anna Torv provokes extreme reactions. Personally, I think she’s wonderful: a straightforward down-the-line professional, the sort of girl you might meet out and about in a bar or at a friend’s party. It’s nice not to have a ‘committee-approved eccentric’ as the lead of a fantasy show!

Plus, the way she wrinkles her nose is damn sexy! ;)

I have to agree with redshirt, I just don’t get Anna Torv’s appeal. She just falls flat to me — but I also blame the writers of the show. Olivia is not very well-characterized in my opinion. In fact, pretty much all the characters on the show are rather two-dimensional and ill-defined, and so the actors have to rely on their own charisma. I think this is what Torv lacks, in my opinion.

The two most interesting character for me are Walter and Peter, with two very charismatic and capable actors portraying them. They have some mystery to them as well, and yet the writers are just doing nothing with even that little bit of potential. The heart of sci-fi is how you care about the characters these fantastic storylines and universes revolve around, so it’s important that the people and relationships are fleshed out. I think this is one of Fringe’s problems.

Anyone know why in Firefox the formatting of the Sci-Fi (x)day articles (both TV and movies) gets messed up right at the first video in the post? Other articles with video (such as the MythBusters preview) don’t have the same formatting issues in Firefox. This has been going on for a couple months now, IIRC, but the formatting was always fine before that.

I tried to read this article in IE, to see if it was formatted correctly there, and all it ended up doing was crash the browser!

24. Avro Arrow

Never have any problems running Firefox 3.5.6 on my Apple MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard. I presume you’ve checked you have an up-to-date Firefox! :)

I absolutely love the new Dr. Who, having never seen more than a glimpse of the original show.

Just tuned in one day to the relaunch with Christopher Eccleson on BBC America and have been hooked ever since! Torchwood as well.

Are there seriously people who are watching Caprica after the ridiculous series finale of Battlestar?

Just wondering, how is “Chuck” Sci-fi?

I still think “Lost” will end with the cast in a diner listening to Journey.

What, it’s been done?

Hope this doesn’t double-post:

I <3 Walter Bishop!

#27

There are some of us who really liked the series finale of BSG, I’m definitely one of those. I went back and watched it a couple of times, I found it amazing just how many subtleties were contained within. BSG was one of the best series that I have ever had the pleasure of watching, Sci-fi or not.

Sorry you didn’t appreciate it.

@21 “the smallville cast all are better in my opinion”

You have got to be kidding me.
I am not picky when it comes to acting, and I am certainly have no acting knowledge or skills, but even I can see that despite a decade of practice, the smallville cast hasn’t progressed beyond the same sub-90210 style of acting that we saw in the pilot.

@31:
Oh don’t get me wrong, I appreciated BSG very much. But the end just ruined it. It was like bad Sci-Fi from the 50s. Oh, all this bad technology. We give it up. Until the first one dies of an ear infection I guess. Just plain ridiculous romanticizing non-sense. Sorry for the harsh owrds, but this is how I and all of my friends receive it. And don’t get me startded on the deus ex.machina angels crap. The last episode transformed a great Science-Fiction show into a Religous-Fiction show.

Hollywood has gone reboot-crazy, especially when it comes to comic book movies. Brandon Routh is a great actor, and he kicked @$$ in Superman Returns. It wasn’t a perfect movie, and yes, a Superman movie should be better than that, but it wasn’t awful, and it doesn’t deserve to be rebooted. No one will deny that Bryan Singer is a helluva talented director, and I trust him to improve on Returns if given the chance. I only have one demand: Brainiac must be the villain!

@25 Dom:

Well, I was running 3.0.15, but I just upgraded to 3.5.6 in the last couple of days, and yep, formatting is perfect now. Thanks!